What-To-Watch Wednesday: Searching (2018)

Aneesh Chaganty's Searching is one of those films in which all but the last ten minutes is a taut, tense thriller intertwined with a brilliant character study of a grieving, desperate man. It is also the first film I've seen that successfully utilizes social media platforms and digital communication as authentic storytelling devices and not just as narrative gimmicks. There is so much to recommend about this movie, so much to admire, and then there are those last ten minutes.

So, let's get the bad out of the way. The last ten minutes of the film essentially turn it into a predictable thriller that had it been filmed more conventionally would have barely registered on anyone's radar as a worthwhile movie. It isn't bad per se, but it is something of a let-down after the promise shown in the preceding parts of the film. And, to be honest, it is something that would probably only bother a picky movie goer like me. Most audiences and critics wouldn't find it problematic and apparently haven't if current reviews and audience ratings are to be believed.

Here's the thing: If you like neat wrap-it-up-with-a-pretty-bow closure at the end of your movies, you will be just fine with Searching. If you are like me and prefer that a film follow its narrative to a more realistic and earned resolution, then the ending will be a noticeable, although hardly ruinous sticking point for you. But, if you are like me, you love movies and appreciate ones that are well done, and this one is well done.

The story is about David Kim (John Cho), a widower, who wakes up one morning to find his daughter, Margot, missing. After some denial and false leads, David begins to panic when it becomes clear that he truly has no idea and seemingly no way of finding out what has happened to Margot. He then begins an investigation into the secret life Margot has led online, slowly beginning to piece together her lonely, solitary world.

It is David's investigation that makes up the majority of the story, and Searching is nothing short of a revelation in how the audience discovers new things about the inner lives of Margot and David. Told solely through social media apps and digital video, the format becomes a way in which Chaganty communicates all aspects of the story to the viewer, everything from major plot revelations to the most subtle of character moments. This is both a brilliant move and a huge gamble for Chaganty as the entire success of the narrative depends on the audience being intimately familiar with the idiosyncrasies of communicating online.

To illustrate, there is a moment in which a character types out a text message, pauses as if reading what was just written, and then deletes the message in favor of something more benign. The audience only sees the screen and the typing. This moment, which would have been of no importance in another kind of film, reveals the emotional state of the character doing the typing, and there is not one line of dialogue or facial expression on camera. The fact that we are able to become emotionally invested in this speaks not only to our own experiences with social media but to incredibly masterful film-making as well.

This isn't to say that the actors aren't important in Searching. Debra Messing plays Rosemary Vick, the detective investigating Margot's disappearance, and she is worlds away from Grace Adler in this movie.  As Detective Vick, she is all stoic professionalism masking a deep emotional core. And then there is John Cho, who effectively conveys a man on the edge of grief and panic. The subtle shading he gives to his facial expressions as his character unravels the mystery of what happened to his daughter is a prime example of wonderful screen acting.  Both of their performances manage to penetrate the personal distance potentially created by social media platforms and show the real people behind the text messages and digital videos.

Essentially, Searching is so good at showing us David's inner turmoil that the mystery becomes not what has happened to his daughter but what he discovers about her life before she went missing. He's trying to find out where she is, but in the process he is uncovering what brought about her disappearance in the first place by connecting with her life. And, really, what else do we have when we lose a loved one? None of us get a spectacular revelation explaining the reason our loved one was taken from us. All we can do is try to understand the life they lived through the remnants they leave behind. This feels like the larger idea at work here in Searching; I just wish it had been carried through to the end.